The Church is people - As different and varied a collection as you'll find anywhere.

But together we have a STORY TO TELL.

And our building - like all the motley people who make up St. Mary's - tells a story too.

We're here to share the good news that this is God's creation - and women and men, young and old, black and white, are made in God's image.

We want to encourage everyone to grow to their full potential as children of God... ( And as everyone in Brixton knows - this bit of Devon is as near as you can get to the Garden of Eden. )

St. Mary's Church has a series of exquisite and unique nativity carvings done about a hundred years ago by two remarkable women wood carvers, the Pinwell sisters from Ermington.

Explore the church and see if you can find where they are.

Hospitality! - sharing food and drink with an overflowing church at harvest time, with 100+ sitting down to a feast together.

( We've just got the go ahead to build much needed loos and a servery at the back of the church to make practical hospitality a bit easier for everyone - watch this space! )

Jesus demonstrated God's love by sharing food with the hungry, an embrace with the leper; laughter with the joyful; tears with the sad; his bread with sinners; and sharing the hunger of the poor and all who were hungry and thirsty for a better world.

Every church reads the Bible - and sings it; questions it; thinks about it; preaches it.

Some bits are hard to understand; and the parish team enjoy hearing and sharing debate and discussions, faith and doubt.

( No question is ever stupid. )

We believe in supporting each other and praying for each other.

( Members of St. Mary's also help run a National Prayer Help-Line from a little church office in Brixton School. )

Jesus called his friends to be "Fishers of men" - to draw men and women into the net of God's grace.

And in the 21st century, this web site is indeed part of that Net too!

There's a Prayer Net at the back of the church, where many visitors leave requests for prayer; notes about loved ones; or leave a prayer candle burning - a sign when you come in someone's been there praying too, even if you can't see them.

The church is open for everyone everyday from 9.00 'till dusk.

The church is there for every situation in life's journey - from birth to death and beyond.

We stand beside our world in sorrow and in joy - in times of conflict & times of celebration; and the church is there for all the village... not just the "religious" ones. ( Most of Jesus's friends weren't conventionally "religious: - in fact the religious establishment crucified him.)

We pray - and work in a practical way - for the peace of the world.

( Sight Savers / the Blind in Africa / Christian Aid / Street Pastors working with clubbers / The Royal British Legion )

On Remembrance Sunday - and every Sunday - we remember those we love who are far away (when so many families in Plymouth and the South Hams have parents or children on the front line in the Forces)

We remember with love all whose lives have been given or taken away in the service of mankind; and in our broken world, we commit ourselves passionately to praying & working for peace.